Slowly, Oh So Slowly
by GRINtelligencer
Summary: He always smiles, no matter what. Even when he’s dieing. One shot. Death fic.


**Slowly, Oh So Slowly**

Dane Soar

**Rating:** T Character death and blood

**Characters/Pairings:** The whole gang, but mostly Fai

**Comments:** This is my first fic in the Tsubasa realm. Enjoy and please review, I know it's melodramatic, but this is an old fic I did a while ago. This is more AU now than anything else; I wrote this back when the Tsubasa fan fiction was only totaled about ten pages. Boy, that's changed.

Redone for typos and formatting issues.

'_Italics' --_Thoughts

"Regular"-- Speech

_Italics_-- Flashback

* * *

(Fai's POV)

I'm dieing.

It's simple really, two words that explain my fate. From were I lay on the floor I smiled up at the ceiling, blood dripping from the corner of my mouth.

'_Not very long now.'_

Crimson blood.

Crimson blood as I'm dieing.

_Kuro-chi wiped his blade free of gore snorting. "Some 'terrible demons' these were." His scowl is as dark as ever._

_"I don't understand way the villagers feared these demons so much." commented Syaoran-kun helping Sakura-chan to her feet. He, like the rest of them, was slightly blood splattered._

_"Why they went down like cheep wood under Kuro-tan's sword!" He put in cheerfully._

_Kurogane turned to him, angry and glaring, business as normal. "Stop calling me that you. Besides you only know that all because you just stood there and watched." _

_He smiled in a way that he knew from past experience would infuriate Kurogane. "But I helped Kuro-Chan, remember?"_

_"Only at first!" spat the ninja back at him. Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan watched the conversation from the sidelines nervously. By now they were used to the usual spats between the mage and the warrior, but still disliked them._

A sudden stab of pain made me to gasp for breath as blood streamed anew from the wound my chest. I put a hand to it, barley able to manage the strength to do even that.

I was dying. I knew that far too well, I was not unfamiliar with the sensation.

I hoped I would be safely passed away by the time the others came back. Really I didn't want to have to see their faces when the saw me.

More sticky blood soaked the straw floor, it's odd to think of dying in an abandoned barn. Of all the places to end…

But their faces, the expressions… I don't want to see how I know they'll look, how Kuro-pii will simply stare in surprise, which will quickly change to anger, or how Sakura-chan will start to weep, or how Syaoran-kun's face will darken and his hands clench.

_'Selfish me I don't want that'_

_The demons had come up behind them to attack from the rear. Luckily they had expected that and walked such an order as to put that to their advantage. _

_Kuro-woof unsheathed his sword at once, slicing two demons in half with hardly an effort as Syaoran-kun slammed his foot into that face of another attempting to grab Sakura-chan, who held Mokona safely._

_As one of the beasts took after him, but he dodged neatly to the side to let in bang into another demon; the force of both their charges was enough to stun them both. Smiling he inspected my handy-work, rather proud of himself._

_He failed, however, to see the demon that had come up behind him, until it shoved its claws through him. Then he noticed it. Rather painfully._

_But the mage didn't make a sound to call the other's attention. Not even when it snapped several ribs when it threw him off into a tree. _

I hissed between my teeth as another jolt of pain hit, sharp like the edge of glass.

Really I never thought I'd die like this, I wonder if the Dimension Witch is in her world, watching the way fate plays out and laughing at the strange turn it had taken.

"_You alright?" Syaoran-kun asked him, looking worried when he staggered a bit._

_He grinned, putting a hand against a tree to steady himself, hopping the boy wouldn't notice the way he was oddly holding his coat so it covered his wounds. "I'm quite alright,"_

_"Well," Kuro-chi turned to the forest to head out. "I saw at least three head this way, I'm off to mop up the survivors. Come on."_

_"So the villagers came live in peace!" the Princess chimed in, as optimistic as always. They were really doing this task in exchange for payment, in the form of her feather, but who had the heart to correct Sakura-chan?_

_"You know," he said as if the thought had just occurred to him. "I think I'll wait back where we left our gear in that barn. I'm feeling a little tired." That combined with a weary smile had the right effect._

_"I'll go with you," offered Syaoran-kun courteously, as he started back._

_"No, no," he called over his shoulder. "You keep going, I'll be fine." Hopefully no one noticed that he was limping. The look Kuro-sama had been giving him hinted that he suspected something, but appeared to decide to not say anything about it._

My vision had slowly been fading all this time until things became simply blurs of color. I almost welcomed the change, dying slowly wasn't as fun as it's said to be.

The door swung open and someone screamed, it seemed to me like it came from very far away, though that could been because of all the ringing in my ears.

By the sound of it, it must have been Sakura-chan.

"What _happened_ here?" Kuro-rin was sounding surprised and shocked and angered all at the same time.

'_But I can't see them'_ That was one good thing.

Someone raised my head some, a flesh colored blur appeared in my line of vision. "Fai-san are you alright?" Syaoran-kun's voice said. "Can you hear me?!"

"Hey stay awake," Another fleshy blob was Kuro-woof, "don't die on us, you idiot!"

"Why's there so much blood?" Sakura-chan was saying, her voice chocked with tears.

But I had to…

Had to apologize…

Had to say something before the end…

Smiling as well as I could, I said, as clearly as I could through the blood. "…sorry t…to fail on…on you all…"

And let the blackness carry me away.

Still smiling until the very last.

**END**


End file.
